Battle of Life
by followtemptation
Summary: naruto sets out to find the only person who makes his life worth it. sasunaru


ok this was a quick story i wrote on the bus and it may turn out to be longer i might add chapters or i might leave it as is.

DISCLAMER. i only own smart ass comments nutin else.

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_I can't stand this pain that won't go away. The only thing stopping me from going completely insane and killing myself is the oath I swore when I was 12. I swore on the pain of my left hand that I would never lose to him, and killing myself in a way that's losing. I should have the strength to beat this. I have to find him, if I don't what the point is in trying to beat this darkness that threatens to swallow me._

The light burned my eyes as I opened the, sensitive from all the tears I shed in the night. Sighing I pulled myself out of bed. We leave again today, to find him: the man I love to fight, the one that when he bleeds from my attacks I feel proud. Yet I still can't live without him, people think we hate each other, their wrong we just love to fight.

I shut the door with the sun warm on my back. I did some quick stretches before I ran towards the Konoha gate. As usual I was the first one there. Sakura would be next, then Sai and in an hour (or less if we're lucky) Kakashi. I walked through the gate and stood with my back against the nearest tree. I shut my eyes and with my hands behind my head I started to doze, missing the comfort of my bed.

"Hey Naruto." came the sleepy voice of Sakura. She hated mornings almost as much as I did.

"heya." I didn't bother opening my eyes. I followed her chakra signature and the sound of her footsteps, as she moved towards me. She sat a little further around so she was facing the gates.

"Do you think we'll find him this time?" I felt my chest tighten at the defeat in her voice. I swallowed the lump in my throat and dug deep for dome of me old hyper personality.

"Absolutely. We're sure to find that bastard." I was pretty proud that my voice didn't even waver. Would we find him? I hate giving Sakura and myself false hope. There was no one for me to compete against. Where was the fun in life when I couldn't prove him wrong, and becoming Hokage just wouldn't be the same without rubbing it in Sasuke's face? He had completed his goal of killing Itachi, now all I had to do was drag Sasuke's skinny white ass home and become Hokage. Couldn't be that hard right? I soon felt Sai approaching. I cracked an eye to look at him; he had his usual fake smile on. I shut my eye, mind drifting as to why Sai's smiles looked so false.

"Yo" my eyes flew open, temporarily blinding me, since the sun had moved since I had shut my eyes. Silhouetted against the sun was Kakashi.

"Holy shit. Your almost on time!" I heard Sakura giggle to my right. Kakashi smiled evilly,  
"well…"

"Don't want to know." I said shaking my hands at him. The last time he told one of his stories, it was just too dodgy to imagine, Just thinking about freaks me out.

"Ok last place we found traces of him was in the northern part of the forest. We'll start there." Just as I finished speaking we all took off, to the clearing where we found several slain akatsuki including Itachi. When we looked around we found several blood droplets leading further north. I wanted to follow then and there, but Kakashi was determined to report the deaths to Tsunade. Now we were finally going to follow him, I'm so going to beat him senseless for all the worry he caused us.

"Naruto, slow down will you? You'll be exhausted if you carry on at that speed." Sakura yelled at me. I slowed with an annoyed sigh; it's easy to forget that I'm different and that I can hit much faster speeds than the others. In just over two and a half hours we reached the clearing, it had been two weeks since I last stepped into this clearing and the ground was still discoloured from the blood. There were several burnt patches and several trees were completely stripped of leaves. And one had been ripped out of the ground. All in all it was a mess. There were signs of the chidori being used, several times in fact. Sasuke would probably still be exhausted, so he would be reasonably close by. I walked towards where we had assumed Sasuke had left the clearing. Shutting my eyes I let my chakra worm around the vicinity, in hope that I might sense Sasuke. When I was certain he wasn't anywhere close I walked further into the forest. A gentle breeze caused my hair to tickle my forehead. It also brought a scent with it that I could recognize anywhere.

"Guys!' I was already running as fast as I could into the breeze, the scent getting stronger. Just before I hit another clearing I caught Sasuke's chakra signature, I slowed to a walk. For the third time that day I was blinded by sudden light. I forced myself to focus on where I knew Sasuke was standing. Once my eyes adjusted to the light I looked more closely at Sasuke, he had bags under his eyes and his face was thin and hollow looking. His eyes were unfocused as he stared in my general direction.

"Sasuke" I barely managed to whisper. His eyes snapped up focusing on me, hand flying to the hilt of his sword.

"Leave me Naruto, i've fulfilled my goal, life holds no further interest for me." I looked at him he said it in such a blasé way.

"No fucking way. You're coming back to the village, even if I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you!"

"I don't think so." I watched him as he smoothly drew his sword. I felt the wind blow from my left; I stared as Sasuke's hair blew across his eyes and his top move to reveal more of the left side of his chest. He was suddenly right in front of me; I jumped to the right as he swiped at me, drawing a kunai as I did. I managed to block several attacks from his sword, but I wasn't expecting the left hook he threw at me. It caught me in the jaw; I felt my cheek ripe against my teeth. Sasuke glared at me as I spat the blood from my mouth and wiped the residue with my hand.

"Bastard."  
"Getting sloppy are we Naruto?" his smirk annoyed the hell out of me, which is probably why he always did it. I ran at him, he was ready though and caught my wrist. Even though it held a kunai I was trying to punch him. The blade stuck out by my pinkie, Sasuke's face just inches from the tip. I flicked my wrist and caught his cheek, leaving a crimson line. His scowl deepened and I grinned.

"Now who's sloppy?" I felt the cool steel of Sasuke's sword against my throat. We stood like that for several minutes, until the sword became warm against my throat. Time to move, I yanked my arm out of Sasuke's grip. I had to jump back to avoid my throat getting cut. I felt the breeze from his sword as it barely missed my throat. The adrenaline was flowing through my body meant that I acted rather than thought. I ran straight at him and our fight became serious. I threw several punches, kicks and slashes with my kunai. Sasuke blocked or dodged each attack. Suddenly his hand was against my chest, and then I was flying backwards. Damnit he sent a large amount of chakra to his palm forcing me backwards. I put my feet on the ground sliding backwards for several more feet. Once I got a grip, I ran straight at him. The kunai in my right hand positioned for a stomach stab. We connected, standing directly in front of each other. i could feel so much. I felt the hatred for the man infront of me, I also felt a strange warmth towards him that I couldn't explain. I could feel the cold steel embedded just below my heart, I could feel the blood pumping into my lung and making its way to my mouth with every breath. I watched my blood stain the pale chest infront of me. I also felt my own blade buried in his stomach. I had killed him now. It never occurred to me that I too was dying. I couldn't live without him, I…I loved him, this realisation brought warmth all through my body.

"Sasuke, I-I love you." I rested my now very heavy head against his chest. My vision was blurry, why? I could hear noises, Sakura?  
"NARUTO!" she sounded so far away.

"I love you too loser." The strangled whisper in my ear was so loud, I felt a hand brushing the back of my head. I smiled before I slipped into the black nothingness.

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dude i got the meanest headache writing this i was like 'must keep writing' and i did it yay.


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